This is a list of the breweries currently
operating in the six states of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland which formerly
comprised the DDR.

In 1989, the last year before the fall of the old DDR regime, total beer production
was 24 million hl. Unification and, more particularly currencey union with West
Germany, caused a dramatic fall to just 7.5 million hl in 1991.

Unsurprisingly, many breweries were unable to survive such drastic developments
and there were many closures in the early 90's. With the rekindling of interest
in local products in the East, the situation has considerably improved since.
At a time when in Germany as a whole beer ouput is declining, the only states
to have shown any growth are in the East. In the year 2000, production was
back up to around 20 million hl.

The brewery was bought by brewer Erich Babben in 1928 and named "Erich Babben
Stadtbrauerei Lübbenau". In 1962 the state took a stake in the brewery and
it was renamed "Erich Babben KG Stadtbrauerei Lübbenau". In 1972 the brewery
was nationalised as "VEB Stadtbrauerei Lübbenau". Brewing stopped
after the mashtun broke in 1974, though soft drinks were still produced.
In 1996 a 50 hl brewery was installed. This was such a success that it was
replaced with a 5 hl installation in 1998.

The brewery became the Schloßbrauerei Drebkau in 1870 and was owned by the
Reeka family until 1949, when it was bought by Hildegard Kircher. Her father,
Anton Kircher, had been a brewer since 1898 and ran the Bayrische Brauerei
in Cottbus. In 1972 the brewery in Drebkau was nationalised, but it was
repurchased by Hildegard Kircher's sons in 1992. Production recomenced in
1998.

Dark lager - Schwarzbier. The cause of a long dispute between the
brewery and the government. Finally it was ruled that it can be called
"Bier", despite being bottom-fermented and using sugar.
Hopefully another nail in the coffin of the Reinheitsgebot.

Mönchspils

4.8%

11°

Pils.

Bibulibus

4.8%

11°

Unfiltered pale lager.

Winzerbier

4.9%

11°

Pale lager.

Schlaubetaler Landbier

4.1%

Pale lager.

Klostermalz

1.8%

11°

Malzbier.

Bock

6.2%

16°

Pale Bock.

Original Badebier

Dark lager. Unfiltered. Designed to be either drunk or bathed in
(I'm not kidding).

Kirschbier

Bock with cherry juice.

Anti Aging Bier

Sounds like wishful thinking to me.

Closter Zell

6.3%

16°

Pale Bock.

Schwarzbier Extra Stark

7%

18º

Schwarzbier Bock.

Marathon Beer

4.8%

Pils. Enriched with L-Carnitin.

Schwarzbier Extra Stark

7%

18º

Schwarzbier Bock.

Independent brewery. A brewery with some interesting, some dubious and some
plain weird products.

The former Oderland Brauerei which was closed in
2003 and reopened a year later after a management buyout. The largest brewery
in Brandenburg. Produces "own-label" supermarket brands in addition
to the beers listed.

Pils.
Hop, pepper, spicy and citrus aroma; bitterish taste with pepper and
butter aromas; bitterish finish with grass and butter aromas.
Not a bad hop aroma, but too thin the mouth. At least it has no off
flavours.

Description: City centre brick building, next to the main
cinema. Built as a brewpub in 1936. Large U-shaped bar with wooden floors,
numerous levels, raised seating areas with partitions. In the centre,
a large servery with carved wooden counter, rough-plastered vaulting above
and copper brewing vessels. At the rear, a small patio. Food is a combination
of modern and traditional German; the menu is in German, English and Swedish.
Kegs of beer from 5-20 litres can be served at the table for parties.
The home-brewed beer can be served with fruit or cherry juice. Also sells
a wide range of schnapps.

Dark lager - Schwarzbier.
Dark brown colour with a dense pale tan head; roast, smoke and nut
aromas; sweetish taste with burnt, caramel and toffee aromas; bitter
finish with roast, burnt and liquorice aromas.
Slightly pale for a Schwarzbier, but packed with roast flavours. A
bit like sucking on a used match. but in a nice wa.Tasted 20/06/2006.

Pils.
Pepper, spice and basil aroma; bitter taste with pepper, malt and
hop aromas; very bitter finish with pepper and spice.
A beautiful spicy pils that has always been a favourite of mine. It
shows what a difference good quality hops make.

74

Riebeck Premium Pilsener

5.1%

Pils.

Erfurter Angerbräu Premium Pils

5.2%

12.5°

Pils.

Braugold Bock

6.5%

16.7°

Pale bock. Seasonal - October-March.

Owned by Riebeck Brauerei AG, Leipzig. It's pils was one of the best in
the DDR period and has maintained its high quality up to the present.

Pils.
Hop and vegetable aroma; bitter taste with cabbage and grass aromas;
bitter finish with hop, resin and grass aromas.
Has a horrible cabbage aroma but improves in the mouth. Still not
great, though.

Dark lager - Schwarzbier.
Caramel, cream and malt aroma; bitterish taste with cream and liquorice
aromas; bitter finish with coffee and chicory aromas.
A reasonable beer that is just about dry enough to be in the schwarzbier
style. Looking at my old tasting notes, it seems to have been much
sweeter when first introduced. It has definitely been a change for
the better. On my last tasting my description was "Like mild
darkened with too much caramel".

Since a renovation of the brewhouse, full brewing does seem to be taking
place here again. For a time in the 1990's the wort was shipped in from
elsewhere. The beer, which it was never wise to leave lying around very
long in the DDR days, has definitely improved in quality.

Dark unfiltered wheat beer.
Banana, cloves, basil and aniseed aroma; nutral taste with banana,
cloves and lemon aromas; spicy finish with banana and cloves aromas.
Not a bad try at the style. The best Gotha beer I've had by a long
way.

61

Oettinger Kristall-Weizen

4.9%

Pale filtered wheat beer.

Oettinger Schwarzbier

4.9%

Dark lager - Schwarzbier.

Oettinger Export

5.4%

Pale lager - Export.

Oettinger Urtyp

5.6%

Amber lager - Märzen.
Biscuit, grass and fruit aroma; sweetish taste with cream, fruit and
honey aromas; bitterish finish with biscuit and butter aromas.
A bit bland, but not unpleasant. The style is a bit vague - it's a
rather weak for a Märzen and too dark for a Spezial.

48

Oettinger Winterbier

5.6%

Pale lager. Seasonal - Winter.

St.-Gothardus Spezial

5.6%

Pale lager - Spezial.
Cardboard and dust aroma; bitterish taste with dust aroma; bitterish
dusty finish.
In a tasting set with some pretty bad beers, this shone out in its
sheer awfulness. Total rubbish.

17

St.-Gothardus Bock

6.5%

Amber bock.
Caramel, pear, peardrops and raisin aromas; very sweet taste with
caramel, fruit and pepper aromas; bitterish finish with apple aroma.
Much better than I expected. Pleasantly fruity, but too sweet without
any balancing bitterness to be really good.

44

St.-Gothardus Maibock

6.5%

Pale bock. Seasonal - Spring.

Part of the Oettingergroup.
Their beer was always dodgy in the DDR days. Nothing much seems to have
altered since the change in ownership.

There are two product ranges: the corporate Oettinger brands and the more
obviously Thuringian St. Gothardus beers. Both sets are of a uniformly dreadful
quality.

Black lager.
Fruit, toast, nuts, toffee and cream aroma, sweetish/bitterish taste
with fruit, cream, toast, coffee and fruit aromas, bitterish finish
with liquorice, malt and espresso.
Excellent toasty malt aroma, pretty good in the mouth and a long espresso
finish. Noticeably sweeter than its imitators. These notes are for
for the bottled version. I scored the draught version a good bit lower
(53/100), though that was 5 years ago so the difference could be an
improvement in the beer.

70

Köstritzer Edel Pils

4.8%

11.4º

Pils.

Köstritzer Diät Pils

5%

11.2º

Low-carbohydrate pils.

A brewery that, unusually for Germany, is famous for a dark beer. The popularity
of its Schwarzbier has caused a revival in the style and many breweries
in Thüringen and Sachsen have introduced versions.

Brewpub serving unfiltered beers. It is also a hotel and offers packages
including rooms and tours of the brewery and local sights.

Mühlhausen, with its virtually intact city wall and ancient houses, is one
of the prettiest towns in Thüringen and well worth a visit. The house
where my sister-in-law used to live, with a stone-flagged and galeried inner
courtyard was right out of the Middle Ages. No doubt the house has either
had the character renovated out of it or been demolished. Just a shame only
one of the three DDR-period breweries remains.

Amber lager.
Caramel, malt and flowers aroma; bitter taste with hop, pepper and
malt aromas; very bitter finish with pepper and wood aromas.
An interesting beer that is impressively tasty for its strength. It
has a good balance of malt and hop flavours, with satisfyingly hefty
whack of hops at the end.

Pils.
Spice and metal aromas; bitterish taste with metal and smoke aromas;
bitter finish with metal and hop.
Thin and metallic with a harsh bitterness. Not that good.

28

Rosen Spezial Pils

4.9%

11.3°

Pils.

Schwarze Rose

4.9%

12.3°

Black lager.
Malt, fruit, toffee and burnt aromas; neutral taste with cardboard
aroma; bitterish finish with cardboard and metal aromas.
More a münchner than a schwarzbier. The aroma is pretty good
but the rest is disappointing and the finish positively unpleasant.

35

Rosen Dunkler Bock

6.5%

16.5°

Dark bock.

Independent brewery. Nationalised in 1951, in 1991 it came back into the
hands of a descendent of one of its founders.

Pils.
Cardboard and dust aroma; bitter taste with grass, hop and dust aromas;
bitter finish with dust and resin aromas.
A hop-extract beer with some reasonable bitterness masking to a degree
the off-flavours.

34

Raubritter Dunkel

5%

Dark lager.
Chicory, toffee, pepper and malt aroma; sweetish/bitterish taste with
cream, malt, liquorice and toffee aromas; bitter finish with black
toffee, coffee and pepper aromas.
An excellent dark lager that is just about dry enough to be in the
schwarzbier style.

75

Sonnen-Weisse

5%

Unfiltered pale wheat beer.

Sonnengold Bock

Bock.

Schwarzbacher Narrenkrug Faschingsbier

Pale lager. Made specially for the carnival in Schwarzbach.

Schwarzbacher Weihnachtsbier

Amber lager. Seasonal - Winter.

Independent brewery. Nationalised in 1949. Reacquired by the Trier family
in 1990.

Pale lager.
Hop, mint, flowers and grass aromas; very bitter taste with hops,
vanilla, butter and grass aromas; very bitter finish with hop, wood
and pepper aromas.
A beautiful dry beer with a complex hop flavour. One of the best beers
of its type I've ever tasted.

82

Brauerei Schmitt is a tiny village brewery, that was once the smallest in
the DDR and possibly all of Germany. It has been in the hands of the Schmitt
famiy since 1885. Most of the equipment dates from the 1890's, including
a miniature steam engine which powers all the machinery. It was already
designated a "museum brewery" in 1977, during the DDR period.
Run by members of the Schmitt family, it was never nationalised because
of its small size.

The single, pale lager brewed here is of exceptional quality. The primary
fermentation, which lasts a week, takes place in open fermenters. The only
concession to the modern age are stainless steel lagering vessels, though
the lager keller still contains some oak barrels, too. Here the beer is
lagered for 5 weeks. The beer is then filtered and either bottled or kegged.
The filtering, bottling and bottle-washing equipment is all pre-war. The
beer only has a shelf-life of 3 weeks because it is not pasteurised. That
isn't usually a problem, as the beer is only sold in the immediate vicinity
of the brewery.

Mashtun

Filter

Lager Keller

Steam Engine

Steam Engine

Bottle filler

The idyllic location is extrememly difficult to find, the name Singen only
appearing on signposts when you get to within a kilometer or two of the
village. It supplies draught and bottled beer to a few pubs in the area.
Their bottled beer can also be purchased by individuals directly from the
brewery.

Operating under the name Turmquell Brauerei, this was one of the 3 breweries
in Mühlhausen at the time of German reunification. By 1994, all three had
closed. In 1999 this brewery was re-opened, though some of the old buildings
were demoished and a new small brewing plant was installed.

The photo above is from the mid-1980's. The brewery offces (The red brick
thingy on the left) are pretty much unchanged. Sadly, the classy Turmquell
sign has been removed. If I remember correctly, it was producing only bottled
beer in the 1980's.

Brewpub on the edge of Erfurt. The Waldhaus pub (in the middle of the Steigerwald)
was built in 1888 by the Aktien-Brauerei-Erfurt as a destination for day-trippers.
In the 1960's it was taken under state control. Between 1993 and 1994 it
was restored and converted to a brewpub. All the beers are unfiltered.

Brewery in the ground floor of the Weißensee town hall, which claims to
be the oldest in Germany. Weißensee also claims to have the oldest Reinheitsgebot,
dating from 1424, called "Statuta thaberna". It differs slightly
from the Bavarian one, in that it specifies malt and not barley (which makes
it closer to the current law that allows wheat and rye malt). The exact
wording is:

Nationalised in 1946 and in 1955 renamed "VEB Bautzener Brauerei". In 1991
it fell into the hands of the Treuhand, who halted production at the brewery,
but continued to have beer contract brewed. In 1992 it acquired a new private
owner and Bautzener Pils continued to be contract brewed. In 1996 a much
smaller brewpub was opened in the centre of Bautzen, which inlcuded some
copper vessels rescued from the old brewery site.

Gose. Top-fermented wheat beer brewed with coriander and salt.
Coriander and ginger aroma; sourish tast with coriander, wheat and
citrus aromas; buttery, spicy finish.
It's so strange to find a German beer with such a beautiful coriander
aroma. As for the style, well, I hate to say it of such a nice beer,
but I don't think that it's quite right. It is pretty close in style
to a Belgian witbier, though a little darker in colour. My instinct
tells me that the Gose (brewed by Ernst
Bauer) is the more authentic. This is still a very good beer,
with flavours that are rarely found in Germany.

Dark lager - Schwarzbier. Unfiltered.
Chicory, hop, coffee, grass and burnt aroma; bitterish taste with
coffee, basil, grass and citrus aromas; a very long bitter finish
with coffee, cream and malt aromas.
A very good espresso-flavoured schwarzbier. An excellent mixture of
both hop and malt bitterness.

71

Kuppler

Dark unfiltered wheat beer.
Lemon, ginger, cloves and chewing gum aroma; neutral taste with cloves,
basil and banana aromas; spicy wheat finish with cloves and banana
aromas.
A well-made dark wheat beer that is very, very similar to Schneider
Weisse (the Schneider who owns the brewery is no relation). Very subtly
spicy, with an undertone of banana that really tops it off. It's this
beer in particular that convinces me they have a very skillful brewer.

One of only three breweries in the world producing Gose. All the beers -
in very different styles - are excellent. This is one of the best new German
brewpubs. Owned by Thomas Schneider, a brewery owner from Bavaria.

Porter.
In response to commments on Ratebeer,
this is an acceptable strength for a porter and why does everyone
(who never tasted any of it themselves) assume that DDR beer was crap?
It wasn't. The standard was a good deal better than in the Netherlands.

Löbauer Bergquell Pilsner

4.7%

Pils.

Lausitzer Mühlen-Pils

4.7%

Pils.

Deutsches Schwarz(geld)bier

4.7%

Dark lager - Schwarzbier.

Löbauer Bergquell Gold

5.1%

Pale lager.

Lausitzer Hefeweizen

Unfiltered pale wheat beer.

Strong Porter

7.5%

18°

Porter.

Lausitzer Berg-Bock

7%

Amber Bock.

Löbauer Bergquell Maibock

7%

16º

Pale bock. Seasonal - March to May.

Löbauer Bergquell Festbier

Seasonal.

Independent brewery.

Bergquell must surely be the only brewery in Germany to brew two porters.
Two of the beers I would most like to try.

Gose. A descendant of the owners of the Rittergut Döllnitz,
Adolf Goedecke, has this new Gose brewed for him. According to a text
from 1824, Rittergut brewed the only genuine Gose.
Apple and pear aroma; sour taste with apple, horseblanket and lemon;
sour fruity finish with lemon and apple aromas.
An outstanding beer with a flavour profile usually unseen outside
Belgium. It tastes quite like a young lambic with the carbonation
level of a gueuze. Surely they must be using brettanomyces to get
this taste? It tastes pretty much exactly as I would expect a gose,
except for maybe lacking a touch of coriander.

80

Bauer Hell

4.6%

Pale lager - Helles.

Bauer's Schwarzes Bier

4.9%

Dark lager - Scwarzbier. Brewed since 1993.

Bauer Pils

5%

Pils.

Bauer's Kellerbier

5%

Unfiltered pils.

Bauer's Bockbier

6.1%

Dark Bock.

Independent brewery.

The brewery was nationalised in 1972 and operated under the name of Turmbräu
until repurchased by the Bauer family in 1990. The current man in charge,
Hans Bauer, is the eigth generation of the family to run the brewery. The
brewery buildings are protected monuments. For some reason their beers are
virually impossible to find in Leipzig's pubs.

Pale lager - Export.
Basil, flowers and spice aroma; bitter taste with butter, grass and
pepper aromas; very bitter finish with resin, hop and citrus aromas.
Quite a surprise - a spicily hoppy beer. I'm not quite sure about
the style: it seems more like a beefier pils than a true export.

An amalgamation of several Dresden breweries, which operates under the Feldschlösschen
name. The beers are actually brewed at the Coschütz plant, which was built
in 1981 to replace the existing run-down facilities of Waldschlösschen and
Falkenbrauerei. Part of the Holsten-Gruppe
(owned by Carlsberg).

Pils.
Hop, grape, vegetable and malt aroma; bitterish taste with vegetable,
wood and pepper aromas; bitter finish with resin and wood aromas.
Not bad for a hop-extract beer. The aroma is OK, but it's slightly
thin in the mouth and the finish.

Opened in 1994 to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the brewery. It
is housed is a disused part of the brewery which faces onto the street.
The unfiltered Kellerbier is on of the four Reichenbrander beers available
on draught. It also serves traditional food.

Pils.
Vegetable and grass aroma; bitter taste with grass, dust and resin
aromas; very bitter finish with grass and hop aromas.
Surprisingly good for a hop extract beer. A bit dusty but pleasantly
hoppy. Better than it used to be in the DDR time.
The beer has been brewed by Reudnitz since the closure of the Sternburg
brewery in 1990.

Independent brewery. The brewery was run as a co-operative until bankruptcy
in 1954, when it was bought by Gustav Specht. The Specht family have been
in charge ever since, the brewery remaining in private hands throughout
the DDR period.

Pils.
Grass, cardboard and celery aroma; bitterish taste with grass, hop
and dust aromas; bitter, grassy finish.
What on earth has happened to Sternquell's beers? They used to be
some of the best in the DDR. Another beer ruined by cheap ingredients.

23

Sternquell Diät Pils

4.9%

11°

Pils. Low-carbohydrate beer.

Sternquell Dunkel

5.3%

12.6°

Dark lager.

Sternquell Premium Pils

5.4%

12°

Pils.

Sternquell Sommerbier

3.6%

9.25º

Pale lager - Schankbier. Seasonal - Summer. Bitterness 15.6 EBU.

Sternquell Bockbier

6.5%

16°

Dark Bock. Seasonal - November to Märch.

Owned by the Kulmbacher Brauerei
AG. A personal favourite from the DDR period. They used to brew
a very tasty Pilsator.

Dark lager - Schwarzbier.
Hop and margarine aroma; bitterish taste with hop, basil and herbal
aromas; bitter finish with liquorice, hop and citrus aromas.
A reasonable dry dark lager in the schwarzbier style. It has a very
strong herbal hop flavour that just doesn't get too much. Much
better than the pils.

One of the DDR's former "export breweries", used as a source of
hard currency. It was often difficult to find in the DDR itself. Despite
the brewery having access to the best raw materials, the beer was never
one of my favourites. Since reunification increasing quantites of Wernesgrüner
have been sold in West Germany.